


I Fucked Up [Please Give Me Another Chance]

by Hishex



Category: Youtube RPF
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Angst, Gen, Hit me up if you think of one that I can add!, Inspired by Real Events, Not that we as viewers ever saw much of it, WSJ scandal, i can't think of any more tags, uh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21625102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hishex/pseuds/Hishex
Summary: Jack should have never uploaded that video, and he was sure it was a mistake that would haunt him for the rest of his life.An exploration of what transpired between Felix and Jack in the times of the WSJ scandal in 2017.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	I Fucked Up [Please Give Me Another Chance]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pseudthisyafucks (collettephinz)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/collettephinz/gifts).



> I wrote this on March 2019 as a gift for a certain someone that I look up to very much as a writer ;) But problem! I had it beta read and I NEVER BOTHERED TO FIX THE MISTAKES UNTIL TODAY, ALMOST DECEMBER 2019. (No, hush, I didn't fix this only to upload it and fill my AO3 a bit). So finally, here it is for everyone to enjoy! :D Also big thanks to deltastorm101 who is the MVP beta reader of basically all my works and who I made wait 9 months for this to go up lol

Jack woke up uneasy.

It wasn’t a gradual awakening either; his eyes just popped open and didn’t want to be closed again, as if they knew there was stuff to be done. Since the night before, he had been anxious and nervous about something he couldn’t quite place his finger on; not even drinking a glass of his favorite banana milk was able to shake off the sensation. And those stupid bad vibes were still plaguing his thoughts.

God, he hated feeling like that.

His room was dark but not dark enough for it to still be night time.

Jack remembered he had trouble falling asleep too. That and the fact that his sleep schedule was completely fucked up meant that he had rested for less time than what he would have liked.

Giving up on the thought of going back to sleep, he rolled over on his bed and stretched his arm towards the night stand next to his bed, grabbing a small object which was lying on top. He brought it to his face, pressing a button and squinting before the sudden burst of light that came from it.

06:23 A.M., it read.

Fuck, he had barely slept three hours.

He frowned, because the time was not the only thing which caught his attention. He had an unusual amount of notifications from WhatsApp and Twitter. That was when it him will full force: The video.

Jack wasn’t known as a guy who involved himself in unnecessary drama, but the pressure of the fans was becoming increasingly overwhelming and harder to avoid. To satiate his audience’s need for his commentary on the subject, he came to the decision of throwing his two cents in the matter and sure, there was bound to be some backlash but he had dealt with that before and felt confident in not caring about it.

Oh how fucking wrong he was.

He unlocked the phone and tapped the little green icon, wanting to see his personal texts first. There were too many messages from different people, which apparently talked about the same thing.

 _‘Dude, not to alarm you but I think you made a mistake’_ Mark wrote.

 _‘I’m here if you need anything I’m sorry bro’_ Ethan said.

 _‘You might need to check the comments in the video’_ Robin urged.

 _‘Jack we need to talk. Nothing too serious but asap pls’_ PJ requested.

 _‘You got in trouble’_ Brad stated.

The list of texts carried on, but that was all Jack needed to know something was wrong. And it had to do with his video. He closed WhatsApp and tapped on the red play button icon, followed by the ‘My videos’ tab.

There it was. The thumbnail had him with a stern expression and his glasses, trying to diminish the goofiness of his bright green hair and trying to set the mood for the video. It was a different one indeed. Next to the image was the title of the video: Let’s Talk!

Jack hesitated clicking on it. Judging from his friend’s messages, it was bad. At that moment he regretted everything about making the video, even regretting he didn’t have a strong will to not make it in the first place. But he had to man up and see the consequences, so he clicked anyway.

...

He had fucked up.

He had fucked up big time.

…

With each comment he read, the more the despair and panic inside him grew. He couldn’t believe the amount of discourse his opinion had stirred. He was prepared for backlash but roughly thirty percent of the people had accepted his thoughts, and even they were being attacked for saying so. He had never seen people so angry and divided in his community, and it was his entire fault.

He was in denial. He didn’t want to accept what was happening.

Perhaps… Perhaps it was because the video was on YouTube and thus, being exposed to all sorts of people and not only those from his community. Yeah, that had to be it.

Jack ignored the rising of the sun, exiting YouTube and tapping on a blue circle icon with a white lowercase t. Tumblr, his safe space. That social media app was pretty chill and he liked to interact with his community a lot there: reblogging art, answering questions and taking part in the channel’s memes. He knew a lot of usernames there, and knew that it was a side of his fanbase which would support him even in harsh times.

He typed ‘jacksepticeye’ in the search box, and skimmed through the posts in the ‘Popular’ section.

…

It was an all out war.

What had once been a caring and understanding community had become a place filled with bullying, hatred and animosity. Exactly the same as his YouTube comment section.

His sadness increased as he read posts —from people he recognized— addressing the anonymous bullies with hate, as well as other comments which said they were leaving the community because they were disappointed in him for backstabbing his friend.

Backstabbing his friend.

_Backstabbing Felix._

He had added more fuel to the fire.

And the only one whom he hadn’t received a text from that night was Felix.

Jack stopped scrolling when he couldn’t do it anymore, not because he was paralyzed, but because the phone’s screen was freaking out due to being wet. From sweat. Shit. His heart rate was dangerously fast and his body couldn’t stay still, as if he had flu shivers. Fuck, was he having a panic attack?

“What have I done?” He whispered with a shaky voice, throwing the phone on the bed and bringing his hands to his face.

He hadn’t gotten his points across at all in the video, resulting in everyone misinterpreting his intentions and ‘allegiance’. He had let down his fanbase, his friends and even the person who was suffering the most from all of this: Felix. He had caused him even more harm.

What kind of horrible person he had to be… to kick someone who was already on the ground?

_He didn’t want this._

Jack sniffed and used his sheets to dry his face and hands, grabbing his phone and once again, going to YouTube.

_He had to set things right. He was no longer the person who would sit and wait for stuff to magically happen._

He tapped on the ‘My videos’ tab and saw the dreaded source of all his problems.

_And he had no time to lose._

He tapped on delete.

* * *

The Brighton railway station was as busy as ever. Some people rushed to get on their trains, while the most calculating and punctual ones were standing patiently on the platforms, waiting for their rides. People were hugging their loved ones, some greeting them with joy and others sorrowfully parting from them. All happening amidst the endless sounds of human bickering, the monotone voice of the departure and arrivals announcements, and of course, the occasional train horn.

Jack couldn’t believe he was actually in Brighton.

He wasn’t expecting to return so quickly, as Cringemas had taken place only two months before. Yet there he was, getting off a train and walking towards the exit of the station, carrying a small black suitcase with him.

As soon as he collected his thoughts that morning, he decided to go check on Felix and apologize to him personally. He didn’t care if it might be seen as going overboard; he just needed to do that. He could have stayed at home but not doing anything was the perfect scenario for the guilt and despair to start eating away at him, especially because Felix hadn’t answered any of the texts he sent or the calls he made.

He grabbed the first suitcase he found and threw the clothes he had on the surface of his drawers on it. Four shirts, two pairs of jeans, underwear, socks, a pair of shoes and the things he had on him; also laptop, phone charger and wallet. Enough. He hadn’t made his bed, he hadn’t taken breakfast and he had left all his text messages on read. But he didn’t care; at the end of the day those things weren’t important. He could sort that stuff out later.

He called an Uber and headed to the airport, scoffing at the queue leading to Ryanair’s counters and after waiting a while, asking— no, he was a bit harsher. He lowkey _demanded_ a flight to London as soon as possible. Luckily for him, the lady assisting him was courteous and friendly, helping him to calm down and getting a flight ticket for the next plane. He ended up paying three times the normal cost of a ticket but money hadn’t been one of his problems for a while.

Jack spent the entire flight listening to his favorite heavy metal band: Korn, in an attempt to tame the wild thoughts running rampant on his mind. Still, that hour of flight seemed eternal as he didn’t have signal in the skies, resulting in him being in a constant worry state, and wondering whether Felix had tried to contact him or not.

The train from London to Brighton wasn’t any better either.

He had never involved himself in a drama of those proportions and he had zero experience on how to deal with it. And it showed. Jack would be lying if he said he was calm, because he knew Felix was ignoring him. He could be mad at him, he may not want to answer, he could be busy… The possibilities were endless but his mind always drifted to the worst ones. What if he was genuinely hurt and wanted to end the friendship with him?

“Shut the fuck up stupid brain” Jack said aloud, making it seem like an outside order so his brain would find it harder to dismiss it. It worked sometimes. Not this time, though.

Once he was outside of the station, he approached the nearest taxi he found. He immediately got in without asking first, showing that he didn’t care about the price, and told the driver to go to Felix’s address. The driver told him the price regardless as an act of professionalism and courtesy, to which he responded a simple ‘Okay’ before taking out his phone to check his messages.

Nothing from Felix. Shit.

But Jack was now in Brighton, looking at the same roads and breathing the same air that Felix did on a daily basis. He really wished he had come back under better circumstances. Speaking of which, fuck, what was he going to do now that he was there? Would he just show up unannounced at Felix’s door? How was he going to start the conversation without making it super awkward? Would Felix want to see him? Was he even at home in the first place?

It wasn’t long before Jack started recognizing the streets and the stores passing by, identifying the names and scents, remembering them as the ones which were five minutes away from Felix’s house.

He finally arrived to his final destination after four hours of traveling, barely having drunk a bottle of water because the anxiety had wiped out every trace of appetite from his body. If he ate, he was probably gonna throw up. Ugh, that was horrible taking into account his terrible gag reflex.

Jack got out of the taxi and found himself standing on the path to Felix’s house. He wanted to walk towards the two-story white house but his legs wouldn’t move, frozen in place due to being too afraid of what he was going to have to face.

_You fucking coward. You did all of that to stop now? What kind of fucking resolve do you have?! Move, goddammit! There’s no turning back now._

Jack’s inner monologue seemed to have worked, as he snapped out of it and approached the door, albeit slowly and with steps he was not completely sure he should be making. His arm trembling, he raised it to ring Felix’s doorbell.

…

…

…

No response.

Jack rang again, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone peeking through the windows of the house to no avail.

Again, no response. Perhaps there was nobody at home?

It was lunchtime, so Jack thought Felix might have gone outside to eat with Marzia. Jack wasn’t hungry and decided to wait for him to come back. He took his phone out of his pocket, noticing that it got Felix’s WiFi signal and thinking that at least he could watch some funny YouTube videos to calm himself down and pass the time. He also needed to find a hotel to sleep that night, but thanks to Felix not changing his WiFi’s password, he could save some of his data.

It wasn’t long before the skies darkened, though Jack didn’t notice due to being concentrated in the video he was watching. At least not until his screen was wet. A drop fell down, colliding with the phone’s screen and exploding into tiny droplets… another drop followed, and another and another…

Jack took his headphones off and raised his head, finally taking a glimpse of the endless gray clouds, stretching for kilometers.

_Fuck._

Great. He had gotten out of his house so fast that he forgot to bring an umbrella. Come to think of it, it hadn’t been raining in Ireland that morning but he hadn’t thought a lot about it.

_What a fucking miracle._

He was sitting on Felix’s doorstep, contemplating if he should seek shelter from the rain or endure it, but he easily made up his mind. That entire block and the one in front had only houses and zero businesses, there were no cafés or benches nearby that had a view of Felix’s house.

Jack glanced at the empty path in front of him before lowering his wet head, sighing in misery and defeat.

_Please hurry up, Felix._

* * *

Jack was shivering, his clothes plastered to his body. He had rung the doorbell three more times in hopes that there was someone home and hadn’t heard him. Sadly, no one answered, leaving Jack waiting for an hour in the inclement weather, and only having drunk the coffee offered on the plane and not eating anything else were making things worse. God, he felt sick.

But it was his punishment. Jack was convinced he was paying in the flesh for his mistake.

He was startled by a loud sound. Tilting his head towards the source, his eyes opened wide when he realized it was the garage’s door.

_He’s here!_

The car drove past him. Jack clumsily got up, his limbs stiff and sore. Leaving his suitcase on the floor, he rushed to the garage in hopes of seeing Felix’s familiar blond hair peeking out of the door.

The hair he saw wasn’t blond.

It was pink.

“Marzia?” He asked in realization that there was nobody else in the car.

“Jack? What are you doing here? Felix didn’t tell me you were coming.” Marzia greeted him warmly as she closed the car’s door and walked towards the trunk to gather her belongings, taking a closer look at Jack as well. “Oh my god, you are soaking wet! Don’t tell me you forgot your umbrella. Come in, I’ll bring you a towel as soon as I leave these bags in the kitchen.”

“I did forget it, I left in a rush. I was ringing the doorbell but nobody was at home.” Jack replied, hugging himself, trying to keep his warmth.

Marzia frowned and blinked repeatedly, gestures which Jack caught on. Oh no.

“Is something wrong?” He further inquired.

_Please don’t be more bad news._

He could feel the unyielding passage of time at its finest with each second Marzia didn’t respond. Time didn’t wait. It was capable of punching you in the face and keep going forward as if nothing had happened, but it could also gently embrace you when your heart was bleeding. It could heal just as well as it could damage… Just like words.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what Marzia was going to say anymore.

Would it ease his pain? Or would it dig his pit deeper?

Marzia was the guardian of his destiny at that moment, and Jack’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her mouth opening. “Jack, you may already know about this but Felix is feeling worse than awful, he hasn’t left the bedroom since we woke up. I’ve texted him, he is in the house.”

Cold.

The cold he was feeling was no longer because of the weather. Marzia’s words had been like icicles shot into his very soul, confirming his worst fear. The good times he had with Felix started playing in slow motion inside his head, only to burst into flames one by one: They would never happen again. He wanted to scream, he wanted to break things, he wanted to _cry_. He lost everything he cared for in a second, and now it had all been for nothing.

“I see.” With teary eyes and his head hung low, Jack turned around. “I understand, he doesn’t want to see me. I’m sorry, I’ll be going now and you’ll never see me again.”

He only managed to take one step before a hand on his arm yanked him back. “Please don’t go.” Jack saw Marzia staring at him dead in the eyes, her brown orbs radiating determination and sadness. Strange combination. “He doesn’t want to see anyone. You know how he is, Felix tends to choose to keep everything bottled up and would prefer to suffer in silence if it meant that he wouldn’t bother people.”

_She wasn’t understanding._

“Marzia, he isn’t talking to me not because he doesn’t want to be a bother but because he hates me.” He explained between sobs, feeling how his heart shattered when he acknowledged it. Yeah, Felix hated him.

“He could never hate you.” She spoke with such firmness and reassurance that sparked tiny doubts in Jack. “You are one of his best friends, Jack. He absolutely adores you and constantly gushes about how he can’t wait for you to move here and wants to show you around, he always talks so fondly of you and the fun things you could do if you were here. I am sure he wouldn’t throw that amazing friendship away over a one-time incident.”

Jack was shaking. Once again, not because of the cold but because of the sheer amount of emotion he was feeling. He didn’t know he was so important to Felix and he felt guilty of not giving back even half of what he had given him. Fuck. It was only fair that he did everything in his power to try and patch together that wounded friendship.

He couldn’t hold the tears back any longer.

“I’m sorry.” He fell to his knees, using his elbows to wipe the water drops running through his cheeks.

“Not to me.” Marzia cooed softly, crouching graciously and hugging Jack. “To him.”

Marzia didn’t pull away; she gave him all the time he needed to compose himself and he appreciated that gesture greatly, thus returning the hug. Through this entire endeavor, Jack hadn’t been given any kind of guidance or shown any kind of support from people he could touch or hear. Perhaps he was like Felix in that aspect, as he didn’t even reach out to his parents. He thought he could solve everything on his own and that stubborn way of thinking was the source of his breakdown.

He had to be for Felix what Marzia had been for him.

…

A couple minutes passed before Jack realized he was hugging his best friend’s girlfriend in their house’s garage. It wasn’t anything wrong because they were friends and she was helping him but it didn’t make it any less awkward. He shifted uncomfortably in her grasp and thankfully she lowered her arms. Damn, girls were awesome at noticing things and getting the hints.

“Go talk to Felix, he needs it even though he isn’t aware of it. Now more than ever. He will try to push you away but don’t yield, okay?” Marzia got up and offered her hand to Jack.

Clearing his throat and steadying himself, he took her hand and got up as well. Her sweet smile was lifting his hopes, seeing someone smiling in times of turmoil could do wonders for some people. “Thank you. I really needed that.”

Marzia nodded. “But first, you need to dry up. I’ll bring a towel but be as silent as you can, he might lock himself in the room if he hears you.”

He left her opening the trunk of the car while he got his suitcase from the front door. Being the gentleman he was, Jack helped Marzia with some of her stuff as well, always careful to not make a sound… which would have been incredibly difficult due to his loud and energetic personality but he wasn’t feeling up to it at that moment.

Maybe that was for the best.

He sat in the living room, waiting for Marzia to get the towel she promised. She returned with a cute Gudetama yellow and white towel, handing it to him, he couldn’t help but think that it was a reflection of the couple’s peculiar interests. They liked either soft, cute, pastel stuff or disturbing, weirdly-shaped and gory stuff. There was usually no in-between.

Smiling for the first time in the day and holding the towel, he went to the bathroom to get changed.

When he got out, he had put on a pair of black skinny jeans, a black shirt that could barely be seen and a deep blue hoodie. God, how good it felt to be warm after all being out in the rain for so long. His hair was still damp but at least it wasn’t dripping anymore.

Marzia had been waiting for him with the TV on, sitting on one of their comfortable ivory couches. As soon as he opened the door, she got up and walked to him, grabbing the damp towel and whispering softly. “Don’t worry about this; I’ll take care of it. Felix is in our bedroom, go up the stairs and turn left. It is the last room in the corridor.”

Jack headed to the staircase, trembling with every step he took. Even though he had been in that house a couple of times before, Jack had never gone to the second floor; just seeing his destination from below made him feel dizzy, and the fact that he had to go into Felix’s and Marzia’s room made him gag.

_Fuck. Don’t vomit here, Jack._

It was going to be a moral challenge to enter their bedroom. The bedroom is a private and personal place for some people, some going to the point of not allowing access to anybody but their partner. At least that was what Jack would do. Sure, he had Marzia’s permission but he was going to show up unannounced in front of Felix. He had every right to push him out and slam the door in his face.

Jack was slowly going up, grabbing the railing as if his life depended on it. It kind of did, as his goddamn head was spinning and he would have fallen down if he had loosened his grip.

_Fucking finally._

He got to the top of the stairs, still with a strong grip on the railing and his legs flailing like those of a newborn deer.

_Come on, how many times do I have to go through this?! Are you shitting me, stupid body?!_

Jack knew what he needed to do. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing to calm himself down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale...

…

...Exhale.

_I am ready for whatever might happen._

Jack turned around and caught a glimpse of the room Marzia had told him about. The door was ajar, that was good. He sneaked swiftly through the corridor, seeing the door getting bigger and bigger with each step he took… The door which could lead to his heaven or hell.

He mustered all the courage he could and carefully peeked through the door, opening it just a little, just enough to see to see the corner of the bed and the white sheets moving.

“Marzia?”

Jack stopped breathing when he heard Felix’s voice; it had never been so... off and raspy. It could very well be the first time he was speaking in the day. Jack had rehearsed in his mind what he would say when he saw Felix but at that moment, he panicked and his mind went blank. Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that he was going to be in this situation and it was actually one of the most terrifying things he had ever done. There were many things at stake.

“Marzia?”

He was taking too long to decide.

...

Fuck it, he had to face him.

“No, I’m not.” He opened the door completely, his resolve burning in his chest.

Jack had never seen Felix in such a sorry state. His blonde hair disheveled, eyes puffy from what he could think were hours of crying, still in his pajamas at lunch time and having tons of both wet and dry toilet paper on his night table, stained with tears and snot.

“Oh god… Felix…”

“Jack?” The blond was initially very surprised, but his astonished face quickly turned into a somber and serious one. “What are you doing here? You’re not welcome.”

“I know.” Jack took a step forward, causing Felix to back like a cornered animal. It pained Jack to see him like that but it pained him more to hear such hurtful words from his friend himself. Well, maybe he wasn’t his friend anymore. Jack kept approaching him, stopping right beside his bed and locked gazes with him. “You need to stop these self-destructive habits, Felix. This ain’t healthy. Talk to people, go out with Marzia, play games—”

“Shut up. What do you know?” Felix deadpanned.

It was clear he wanted to end the conversation but he had unintentionally given Jack a question to answer. Jack wanted Felix to understand that his intentions were genuine, despite what his thoughts at the moment were telling him. Hell, Felix even appeared to be _afraid_ of him to some degree. “I know because you are choosing the worst way to cope and I hate seeing you like this.”

“Fucking hypocrite.” Jack was shocked hearing that phrase filled with venom directed at him. “You say you hate seeing me like this? Hah! Perhaps you should have thought about it before saying the things in your video. Just saying.”

The sarcasm Felix was using was nothing like he had heard before. It was outright cruel. However, Jack had to suck it up, as he didn’t want to be guilt-tripping Felix if he started crying in front of him. He was clearly in a defensive stance since he got inside the room and he couldn’t really blame him since he was the victim in all of this.

“Yeah… yeah, I agree.” Jack nodded repeatedly and broke eye contact. “I should have thought it better and I am so sorry about that, Felix. I have been despising myself for everything that has happened. I never thought that one fucking video would cause so much trouble, especially for you. I just wanted to apologize, in person, for all of that bullshit; you are one of my best friends and I want to be here for you.”

Jack was looking at the floor but he could sense Felix’s piercing glare going through him. He appeared to be strong on the outside but on the inside he wanted to scream. He had finally done what he came to do, he had finally let out his feelings, and to not hear an immediate response was unnerving.

But it eventually came and he wished he had never heard it.

“Don’t pretend you care.”

His world crumbled down at that moment.

“Would I be here if I didn’t care? Would I have spent more than five hours travelling if I didn’t fucking care?” Jack’s voice broke; he couldn’t continue the façade any longer. His anxiety, doubts and fear skyrocketed, wanting only to go running to his bed and cry himself to sleep. But he wasn’t even in his country, heck, he hadn’t even booked a room in a hotel.

As soon as he raised his voice, Jack saw a bit of regret in Felix’s face. It was so tiny that it could have gone unnoticed, and that wasn’t enough for him to keep trying. It was over, it had all been for nothing. Marzia had been wrong.

Defeated and without wanting to press further, there was only one thing left for Jack to say.

“You don’t need to say anything, your eyes already say it all. Thank you for everything, Felix. Thanks for the shout out all those years ago, I’ll never forget how ecstatic I felt when the person I admired the most showed my channel and uttered my name. You were and will always be one of my biggest inspirations and I am so terribly sorry that everything ended because of me and my inability to shrug off what others think of me. Sometimes you want to do more than a simple apology but sometimes you just can’t, I really wish I could give back all you have given me.” He sighed and struggled to keep the sobbing at bay. He was failing. “I hope you find the strength to get out of this, I have known you for a while and I know you will. Good luck.”

Jack and Felix locked gazes one last time. For Jack, he wanted to take into account every corner of Felix’s being, so he could always remember what he had contributed to do, and what he had lost. Felix’s expression was unreadable for him though.

They continued like that until Jack decided his broken heart had had enough. “I’ll leave now. Goodbye, Felix.”

Jack turned around and walked at a moderate pace towards the door, he didn’t want to stay in that place any longer, or rather, he couldn’t. It hurt too much. However, he didn’t even get to the exit when he heard a loud thud on the floor. Could Felix really have thrown something to him? … He had to be sure. He turned back.

To his surprise, he found Felix on the floor entangled in his own sheets.

“Don’t—” The Swede whispered, still fighting with the sheets.

“What?” Jack frowned. He knew Felix had spoken but he didn’t quite catch what he had said.

“Don’t go!”

Felix freed himself, stood up clumsily and ran towards Jack, catching him off guard. Suddenly, Felix was hugging the shit out of him to the point of having trouble to breathe, his tight grip probably being the consequence of his last announcement. But Jack let him, being too startled to tell him to stop.

“I… I forgive you Jack, I’m sorry I acted like an asshole, you came all the way over from Ireland to here only to apologize and check on me, and I treated you like shit. I am the worst person ever.” Felix’s embrace was slowly losing strength, as if he only wanted Jack there to hear those last words. “I don’t deserve you as a friend, Jack.”

With that said, he distanced himself, once again returning to his bed and sitting on the side, with his hands covering his face. If Jack did want to leave, he wasn’t going to stop him.

Nevertheless, that was the spark Jack needed to keep pushing. He walked towards Felix, careful not to step on the sheets on the floor, and sat right next to him, standing by until the moment in which Felix would be ready.

Some minutes passed.

“I’m sorry. This is too much for me right now.” Felix lowered his hands, staring at the wall in front of him. “Usually I can live with my mistakes because until now, they have only affected me and nobody else. But this… this is a mess, Jack. A lot of people are in trouble, many lost their jobs, everybody hates me... There are people who don’t want to see me anymore and it’s all my fault. I… I don’t know what to do.”

Jack had never seen Felix so miserable and vulnerable. He felt the need to protect and take care of him, which wasn’t so far-fetched since Felix was the target of an enormous witch-hunt at that moment.

“Hey, since when did you care about what others thought of you?” Jack said gently. “It’s not to the extent of what you are experiencing but half of my audience hates me now too.”

Felix raised his head and looked at Jack. “I’m here making it all about me while you are having trouble too. I’m sorry—”

“Don’t be sorry. You are apologizing too much, you usually make fun of me instead.” Jack interrupted immediately.

Felix stared incredulously at how Jack could make a joke in such a situation. “…right. What are you going to do now, Jack?”

“Same as you, I don’t know. But I do know a thing.”

“Hm?”

“We are in this together and together we will get out of it.”

This time it was Jack who hugged Felix, and he gladly returned the hug. Jack was right; he still had Marzia and the support of his true friends, the people who were with him in the good and the bad. With them by his side, everything was going to be alright.

“I love you, buddy.”

Yeah, they were going to be alright.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marzia had finished cooking and was making the table downstairs. Smiling and giggling, she carefully put the third set of silverware.

“Felix! Jack! Lunch is ready!”

**Author's Note:**

> Everything goes up to eleven when it comes from personal experiences, doesn't it? I used some of mine in this fic ;) I hope it was worth your time and thank you for reading it! :D


End file.
